Engineering Mechanics

Proceedings Vol. 19 (2013)

ENGINEERING MECHANICS 2013

Copyright © 2013 Institute of Thermomechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Prague

 

Silva W.R.L., Šmilauer V., Štemberk P.
pages 542 - 551, full text

The combination of concrete’s low thermal conductivity with exothermic hydration and ambient temperature leads to thermal gradients in concrete. Consequently, tensile stresses develop, leading to early age cracking that may compromise concrete durability. Hence, the prediction of mass concrete thermal behavior is necessar y. Usually, this is done through FEM analysis in combination with adiabatic measurements of cement hydration. However, the use of adiabatic equipment is troublesome due to its high cost and lack of practicality. In that light, this work proposes a low-cost semi-adiabatic calorimeter setup. The measurements from this setup are used to adjust the parameters of an affinity hydration model. Next, the adjusted model is used as a basis for FEM thermal analyses of a mass concrete foundation block. Finally, the results from this analysis are compared against real scale measurements for validation.

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